AXL and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: AXL is a receptor tyrosine kinase known to mediate resistance to cetuximab, and is possibly an alternative mechanism HNSCC cells in vitro are activating to keep proliferating under therapy.40,43,44 This observation suggests that early chromatin modifications are involved in the development of acquired cetuximab resistance and that they can be detected in the beginning of the treatment.